A review by nezimmer
Influencer Island by Kyle Rutkin

3.0

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free ARC copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As much as this book does have it flaws I do recommend it. I had been in a bit of a reading slump before reading this and it was the perfect book to snap me out of it. The twists the plot takes keeps the story fresh and moving but it is also a books that is a reasonably fast read. It's other big selling point for me was that it perfectly captures the felling of horror I have when listing to a true crime podcast or TikTok at night.
I do wish that some of the characters where fleshed out more, lots of the concepts are fascinating and I would have wanted more about almost everything. The book could have been twice as long with all the parts that could have been fleshed out more. That's not to say that it is a bad book, it just left me felling like lots of interesting stories and plot got pasted up.
SPOILERS. All of the contestants are reveled to have been connected to the main character's brother's disappearance and death. unfortunately most of them die before we learn this and then we never find out how they are connected or knew him. Much of the Hunger games aspect felt rushed. In all honestly looking back it feels more like a saw trap disguised as the hunger games. END OF SPOILERS
This all is not to discourage reading this book I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was fun trying to find the clues about whats going on along the way.
One of my favorite things about NetGalley is how I'm able to read thing I would not pick up normally. This book is one of those books and for its flaws I am glad I got the chance to read it.